Exclusive: How Disney's breaking boundaries with The Princess And The Frog

DISNEY'S first black princess hits UK cinemas today with the release of The Princess And The Frog. The cast and crew tell EMILY GARNHAM just how groundbreaking this long-awaited fairy tale film really is...

Hand-drawn animation and very clear morals make The Princess And The Frog classic Disney. But this is wholesome family film with a twist.

Voodoo magic and jazz music pervade the movie set in the Louisiana Bayou and the French Quarter of New Orleans.

Loosely inspired by the Grimm Brothers' Frog Prince, the lead character Tiana - Disney's first black princess - works night and day to save up for her lifelong dream - to own a restaurant.

But when she stumbles across her frog prince and kisses him, she turns into a frog too.

Directors Ron Clements and John Musker told Express.co.uk this is not the first time Disney have broken the mould.

Princess Tiana (Anika Noni Rose) in Disney's The Princess And The Frog

Clements said: "When we did The Little Mermaid years ago Ariel was the first red-headed princess after Snow White, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty.

"We found ourselves having to convince people that it was OK. Even the people who made the dolls objected to it. They said that all their research showed that dolls with red hair wouldn't sell - but we did it anyway."

He added: "After Ariel was Belle [from Sleeping Beauty] and then it got into Jasmine and Mulan and Pocahontas but in terms of The Princess And The Frog it started from the story.

"[Disney director] John Lasseter wanted to set this film in New Orleans which we thought was a great idea. But it was our idea that the heroine be African American and that seemed to make sense in 1920s Orleans."

But Clements admits he had no idea of how important a black Disney princess would be to his audience.

"We were almost felt we weren't sensitive to the fact this was a very very big deal to African Americans and their mothers and daughters," he said. "We didn't realise that there had been an audience waiting for this for a very long time."

Musker said the pair felt the pressure as the hype spread on the internet.

"We did feel some pressure growing as we presented the film. Certainly in the day and age of the Internet there are rumours that fly around so we felt a growing sense of effort. But we worked with African American writer Rob Edwards who kept us on track so we were continually checking ourselves."

Anika Noni Rose, who voices Princess Tiana, added: "The fact that she is a young black girl is fantastic in the sense of putting out another story of America because America is so many different things.

"New Orleans is a melting pot. So it's lovely thing to see this young woman coming into herself. But it's not exclusive. It's very inclusive and welcoming."

She added: "I think there are a lot of groundbreaking things happening in this film.

"I think it's important for little girls who dream of being princesses to realist that it's not just about wanting people to be at their beck and call or live in a castle... And the fact she is a frog for most of the film shows it's not about how you look."